The bottom line here
is the combination of Beltran-Craig-Holiday-Jay is one of the best 4 outfielder
group in the game. There’s obviously no reason for St. Louis to make any
changes with these four ofr the 2013 season.

Prospect wise, Oscar
Tavares will play AAA in 2013.

This leaves either
Chambers or Robinson, neither of which are going to make the HOF some day;
however, Robinson would give the Mets a three-year MLB level player to settle
down the outfield for a year.

Pagan just signed a
4-yr, $40mil deal to play CF for the Giants
through 2016. That’s done. Pierce will obviously play right field this season
and should be a target this time next season in the free agent market.

On paper, Blanco will
split time with Torres and Peguero and the world will continue to wait for
prospect Gary Brown to arrive. THAT’S
the one you want. He hasn’t
played above AA, but you could start him off in Vegas and put him on the same
plane with Zack Wheeler around the all-star break.

Terry Collins made a passing remark last month that
just may reposition the Mets primary utility infielder into the outfield for
2013.

Justin Turner has been the perfect Met, especially in
both the dugout and the clubhouse. If someone is doing something well on this
team, hang around because turner will be there soon with a plate full of
whipped cream. His production was down near the end of the season (August:
.222, September: .214); however, he still finished the season with a respectful
stat line: .269/.319/.392/.711.

Turner’s arrival in
Queens had some bumps. He was originally drafted by the Yankees in 2005 (29th
round), but chose not to sign and returned to Cal
State Fullerton as a senior. This was followed a year later with a 7th
round pick by Cincinnati plus a $50,000 bonus offer. He played three years in
the Red chain but, in December 2008, was traded with UT Ryan Freel and IF Brandon Waring to
Baltimore for catcher Ramon Hernandez

Turner had a
wonderful year in 2009 playing second base for the Orioles AAA affiliate, Norfolk (387AB,
.300/.362/.388/.749), but he simply never got a real shot for the parent team
(18-AB in 2009, 9-AB in 2010). He was release in 2010 and the Mets claimed him
off waivers and assigned him to AAA-Buffalo.

Once again, he proved
his ability at the AAA level, going:
.333/.390/.516/.906 in 312-AB. He was then named in 2011 as one of the
utility infielder of the Mets; however, due to injuries to both David Wright (3B) and Daniel
Murphy (2B) managed to carve out 435-AB, hitting .260/.334/.356/.690. Turner
was named the NL Rookie of the Month for May 2011. He is the first Met to win
the award since its creation in 2001.

Turner is a right-handed
hitter; however, his splits over the past three seasons (2010-2012) are only
.230 against lefties but .271 vs. righties.
His role in 2012 was greatly diminished without any formal explanation
by either Collins or Sandy Alderson. Most write it off to his returning to a
primary utility role, while others have questioned the projected longevity of
his future role.

Obviously, his
.188/.241/.288/.529 stat line in winter ball isn’t doing him any good, but don’t
count the biggest Mets fan out yet. I contacted him via Twitter and he responded
back within an hour:

Jamie Shoemaker wrote an article for TTF, named “Where
will Michael Bourn play?” In it he says:

“B.J. Upton to the Braves. Denard Span to the Nationals. Ben
Revere to the Phillies. Chris Young to
the Athletics. Angel Pagan to the Giants. Melky Cabrera to the Jays. Shane
Victorino to the Red Sox…. Michael Bourn to
… whom? … Mets
– I guess they would have the money but why would he sign there? Also have
serviceable prospects for much cheaper.”

Maybe, we as Mets
fans, are sometimes a little too close to the picture. Does the rest of the
baseball world think that the reason the Mets haven’t signed a top outfield
name is because of the “serviceable prospects” they have in their system? I
assume they are referring to Kirk Nieuwenhuis and
Matt den Dekker, right?

I want to believe that the Mets can solve this from within, but I just
don’t see it, especially for 2013 and 2014. There is a crying need for a solid
25/85 bat to fit himself inside the David Wright, Ike
Davis and Travis d’Arnaud 3-4-5 we all
dram about come May. I happen to think Lucas Duda will
do just fine in the seven hole and produce a 25-75 season.

Dillon Gee is about one month
into his off-season throwing program already and he’s noticed something
different. In years past, even when he was coming off healthy seasons, the
first few weeks of throwing felt “real awkward” as his arm and legs and body
rekindled his pitching motion and there was always soreness afterward. These
days, however, Gee is fresher after he throws, looser. It’s a wonderful feeling
coming off the scariest stretch of his pro career, one in which a blood clot
discovered in his right shoulder led to anxious thoughts about life and his
baseball future and, ultimately, a successful surgery.

Boy, we needed this kind of good news about now in the off-season. It
is vitally important that both Gee and Johan Santana come
to camp healthy and ready to compete. None of us are expecting that much from
the 2013 season… heck, the team just traded a pitcher that was singularly
responsible for at least 10 victories… and we’re all exciting in the direction
the team’s pitching is going, but it’s still around 18 months away having all
their best pieces in place. My 2013 rotation is Santana, Matt Harvey, Jon Niese, Gee, and Jenrry Mejia and it will remain that until the Mets
decide elsewhere regarding the SP5 slot, or if one of these guys come to camp
with a damaged wing. So far, so good.

On Dec. 21, Standard & Poor’s
lowered its rating on the almost $700 million in bonds issued to finance Citi
Field, and it said the outlook for them remains negative. The bonds are now
rated BB, from BB+. That’s two notches below investment grade, junk bonds in
the parlance of the debt market. Jodi Hecht, an analyst at Standard &
Poor’s, cited “cash flow volatility,” noting that “a large portion” of the
money pledged to pay off the bonds is “game-day revenue,” which includes sales
of club-seat tickets, concessions and parking. How the Mets play will affect
the prospects for this revenue, she said. Standard & Poor’s “may lower the
rating if cash flows continue to decline due to a combination of poor team
performance, slow economic recovery, overcapacity in the New York region,” she
added. Attendance has fallen three straight seasons, and the Mets have finished
in fourth place four consecutive years.

I may write about
this team… heck, I might even still root for it… but I definitely do not invest
the few dollars I have left in them, especially if their bonds are tied to
ticket sales and RA Dickey shirts. Regardless of whatever you have read online
about the Wilpons, trust me… they don’t owe a penny regarding this team. They
can walk away from this rich for five generations and stick both you, the
consumer, and the City of New York, with the debt tied up in this stadium. My
strong suggestion to you is to just root for the team and leave the financial
portion of this story to periodicals like the Wall Street Journal. Lots of
bloggers have tried to “expose” this story and have got it partially wrong. I
choose to stay in the minors.

I couldn’t help but notice that
ex-Mets pitching prospect, Roy Merritt, pitched
on Sunday night. Merritt is a perfect example of so many pitchers that show so
much promise early on, only to hit that
wall at the AAA-level.

The lefty flame-thrower was a 29th round pick in 2007 out of
a favorite school of the Mets, Southern University, and he began his Mets
career going 2.88 in 17G at Kingsport in the same year. It only got better in
2008 (Brooklyn: 25-G, 1.49, 55-K in 42.1-IP) and we all began to write about
the ‘live one’ the Mets found in the late round.

AA-ball, which has cost so many pitchers their careers in past, didn’t
seem to get in the way of Merritt. First, he went 3.45 in 56-G in 2009,
followed by 3.86 in 60-G in 2010, but it was AAA that turned out to stop
Merritt in his tracks. A short stint in 2010 resulted in a blistering 14.54
ERA, while 2011 produced 5.26 in 31-G.

The dream was over and Merritt was released by the Mets. Right now,
he’s pitching for Tigres de Aragua ( 3-G, 8-ER, 9.0-IP, 8.00-ERA) after going
4.42 in 5-G in the VWL.

We write about so many of these young prospects that seem to have this
game all figured out in the lower levels, but the journey is just beginning for
so many of them. Sadly, the game spits out many more of these stories than we
care to remember, no less write about.

C Francisco Pena – Aguilas Cibaenas - 1-4,
.250 – there’s always someone in baseball that thinks they can turn around an
ex-prospect like Pena. The Mets signed the undrafted free agent Pena, the son
of Yankees first-base coach Tony Peña, to a
$750,000 signing bonus, in July 2006. He was first sent to the Mets Florida
Instruction camp, where he remained for the remainder of the 2006 season. Baseball
America had one international scouting director (in 2007) termed Pena's body as
"heavy and thick." Willie Randolph was
quoted in January 2007 to say: "he's a little different than I remember.
He's a big boy. I saw Ken Griffey and all those
kids come through . . . Jessie Barfield's kid
(Indians second baseman Josh). It's amazing to see how they've grown and to see
the resemblance in some ways. You can see the evolution, and it's weird to look
at that." Pena, was considered to be one of the best catching prospects in
the Dominican Republic's baseball history. His initial claim to fame so far in
his career is he caught the controversial pitcher Danny
Almonte on that infamous Little League World Series team. It just hasn’t
happened. Right now, his 6-year stat line is: .233/.284/.335/.619. The good
news is he’s still only 22-years old which easily could be the same age he
would have come out of college if he stayed playing in NYC instead of the DR.
He would a wonderful throw in as part of a package for an outfielder. I expect
Blake Forsythe will get the lion share of time in Binghamton and he’s simply
not ready for Las Vegas.

RP Pedro Feliciano - Leones de Ponce –
1.1-IP, 1-K, 0-H, 0-BB, 1.23. That’s now seven games thrown with 7.1 innings…
2-R, 6-K, 1-BB. Yeah, I know how old he is, but an invitation to camp would
kill you? This guy was the heart and soul of the Mets bullpen for seven years (22-19,
459-G, 371-IP, 341-K, 159-BB, 3.32, 1.38) and I can’t see why an invite
wouldn’t be proper. Even his limited 2012 numbers in the Yankees system were
good: 10-G, 9.1-IP, 3-ER, 10-K, 3-BB, 2.89. He’s only going to be 36-years old.
Aaron Lafey? Come on.

Playoffs – RF – Jordany Valdespin - Leones
del Escogido – 3-4, 2-R, 2-2B, 2-RBI, 1-BB, .667 – No one has ever said that
Valdespin wasn’t talented. Let me take that another step: no one has ever said
that Valdespin doesn’t rise to the occasion. Normal baseball games put this guy
asleep, but ask him to step up and win you an important game, and you have a
good chance that it will be accomplished. Is this because he’s such a great guy
and team player? Hell no. This is our Manny. This is our Melky. But, you might
want to go to Baseball Cube and check the stats on the two guys I just
mentioned before you throw him out of the 2013 outfield. Whether we like it or
not, ‘Spin’ is going to play a very important role next season, probably in LF
or possibly in center. Get used to it and the baggage that comes along with it.

Ken Davidoff of The New York Post reported that the New York Mets have
expressed interest in Oakland Athletics outfielder Coco
Crisp.

We just covered
Oakland and these were my thoughts:

we now move on to the Oakland
Athletics who currently have eight (8) outfielders on their 40-man squad:

Free agent losses this off-season
include Jonny Gomes Boston) and Collin Cowgill (Mets). Obviously, if someone
was available who was more talented than Cowgill, he probably would have
already been traded, but this is a team in transition.

2013 looks set with Cespedes,
Reddick, Young, and Crisp. Their problem is Crisp is in the last year of his contract and
Young’s deal is just for 2013.

Green,
Peterson, and Taylor seem all ready to make the next step.

Mets target: Grant Green -
Green has made the conversion from SS to CF… right behind him in the
system is top prospect Michael Choice. Taylor projects out as either a DH or
1Bman. If I can’t get Green, I pass on both Crisp and Young.

I’m dreaming when it comes to Green and, at this point, I’d
be thrilled to have Crisp for even only one year.

Jon Heyman of CBS said that the Mets
were “scouring” the relief market with “plenty of good option still out there”.
Here’s a reprint of who is “still out there”:

I don't know about you, but I'm sick of talking about who is going to play in the Flushing outfield.Let's get back to the reason we have this site... the Mets minor leagues.Here's what I have "on paper" for the Mets pitchersFirst the starters, followed by the relievers... and trust me... I'm always wrong.So... who goes where and who goes away.....Las Vegas Binghamton St. Lucie Savanah Brooklyn ??

Carlos Quenton played
his ass off in the backend of the season so he’ll be back. So will the contract
of Maybin. And, the platoon of Denofia and Venable seems to be working just
fine.

What they next have
to do is figure out who the 5th outfielder will be and what to do
with the others. Two, Kotsay and Blanks (1B and IR ) are under contract for
2013.

Liriano is your top
prospect, but he’s a year away. Strangely, they don’t
have another outfielder in their top 20 prospects.

Mets target – San Diego
is on record saying they are happy with their 25-man and three of their top
four outfielders are right handed hitters.

My target: trade OF Corey Vaughn for OF James Darnell - San Diego needs OF help in the future,
not now. Darnell may not be a top prospect but he’s MLB ready. Excellent 2011 in AA ball:
.333/.434/.604/1038, 17-HR, 62-RBI… 2012:
.267 in AAA… 116-AB, 7-HR, 21-RBI… Wiki: After being drafted by the
Padres in 2008, Darnell was assigned to the Short-Season Eugene Emeralds of the
Northwest League. In 16 games Darnell hit .373 with nine runs, 25 hits, six
doubles, two home runs and 15 RBIs. Darnell was promoted to the Class-A Fort
Wayne TinCaps of the Midwest League in 2009. He hit .329 with 17 doubles, seven
home runs and 38 RBIs in 66 games with the TinCaps before his promotion to the
Class-A Advanced Lake Elsinore Storm of the California League. With the Storm
he hit .294 with 18 doubles, 13 home runs and 43 RBIs in 60 games giving him a
combined total of a .311 average with 35 doubles, four triples, 20 home runs,
81 RBIs, eight stolen bases and 87 walks. At seasons end he was named as the Padres'
Organizational Player of the Year by MLB.com

Ibanez and Bay are
recent signings designed to bring some depth to a young outfield. Saunders has
earned himself a starting role and Gutierrez will try to earn his seven million
bucks. My guess is the addition of
Ibanez means Carp will be released soon the addition of the right hand hitting Bay
does give Seattle the option of shopping Wells while letting Peguero rise to
the majors.

Mets target: Casper Wells –
27-yrs old… plays all three positions… Wells
was traded to the Seattle Mariners along with LHP Charlie Furbush, prospect
Francisco Martínez and a player to be named later (Chance Ruffin) for Doug
Fister and David Pauley…

So far, we have
identified the following outfielders as possible targets for the Mets:

Atlanta – Reed Johnson

Arizona
– A.J. Pollock

Baltimore – Nolan Reimold

Boston
– Jerry Sands

Chicago
Cubs – Brett Jackson

Chicago White Sox - Dayan Viciedo

Cincinnati – Chris Heisey

Cleveland – Thomas Neal -

Colorado – Dexter Fowler

Detroit – none

Kansas City – none

Los Angeles Angels – Mark Trumbo

Los Angeles Dodgers – Alex Castellanos

Miami Marlins – Gorkys Hernandez

Milwaukee Brewers – Khris Davis

Minnesota Twins – None

Oakland Athletics – Grant Green

New York Yankees – None

Philadelphia Phillies - none

Pittsburgh – Jose Tabata

We now move on to the
Houston Astros, who have six (6) outfielders on their 40-man:

Brandon
Barnes – righty – pre-ARB – MLB,
98-AB, .204

Robbie
Grossman – switch – AA: 490-AB,
.294

Fernando
Martinez – lefty – ARB-1 – 2015 –
MLB, 249-AB, .209

J.D.
Martinez – righty – ARB-1 – 2015
– MLB, 395-AB, .241, 11, 55

Justin
Maxwell – righty – ARB-1 – 2014 – MLB, 534-AB, .217

Jimmy
Paredes – switch - pre-ARB – MLB, 242-AB, .256

This is embarrassing.
COT lists their 2013 payroll at $10.55mil, of which $5mil is for a player
(Wandy Rodriguez) no longer on the team.

All their outfielders
are minimal salary players and we thought the Mets sucked at doing this.

Look, everybody on
this team is of minimal wage, thus they will sell you anybody for the same
price. This team needs everything.

Prospect George Springer is a year away and Grossman needs to
play a year at AAA. They need the other five guys on their 40-man to man the
team; however, because both Springer and Grossman could be ready on opening day
2014, you might be able to pry away J.D.

Mets target: C John Buck for
J.D. Martinez…
Mets pay 2/3rds of Buck’s salary in 2013… plays left field… will play
2013 as a 25-year old… we’ll worry about who catchers next week.

I had suggested earlier this week that the Mets should target OF Gorkys Hernandez from the Miami Marlins roster. For
what it’s worth, as of Thursday, he’s hitting .362 for Caribes de Anzoategui in
the VWL… which also leads the league.

Another of my targeted players, OF Jason Botts,
currently leads the Mexican League. He remains unsigned.

The Mets inked another player to a minor league contract, but continues
to be the only baseball team not to sign a player to a major league contract.
This time it’s LHP Aaron Laffey, a 27-year old
that was a 16th round pick in 2003 by Cleveland. Laffey has been
around (Cleveland, Seattle, NYY, Toronto) who was granted free agency in
October. He was a starter for Cleveland, was converted to the pen by the Yanks
and Seattle, but went back to the rotation for Toronto in 2012: 4-6, 4.56, 1.36…
only a 5.1 K/9 last year… Of the 50-odd active lefty pitchers with 400+ career
innings pitched, he has the worst K per 9 (4.4)… this move makes very little
sense to me. Laffey does have the MLB chops. But has had very little success. I
was hoping for a little more than this to hold down the SP5 until Zack Wheeler arrives.

12/28/12

Castellanos has been the Tigers’ best hitting prospect since being selected in the supplemental first round of the 2010 draft. Originally a third baseman, he was moved to right field in 2012 in an effort to find a spot for him on the big league club with veteran Miguel Cabrera currently manning the hot corner.He still has a chance to play regularly at either position, depending on what the future holds for him. A talent evaluator said Castellanos has embraced the move. “Nick’s taken to it quite well… He’s working very hard at it. He’s a good athlete… it’s just going to take some time.”Castellanos has consistently hit for average but he has yet to tap into his power, which projects to be at least average. The contact said the prospect is a good hitter who knows the strike zone. “He barrels the ball as well as anybody… He has a good body to add power.”After hitting .264 in 79 double-A games (after a promotion from high-A), he then hit .242 in 24 Arizona Fall League games which increases the likelihood that Castellanos could return to the level to begin 2013. Despite potentially returning to double-A, he could reach the majors this coming season. I’m told he’ll open the year playing right field while taking grounders at third base.The rest of the list...

So far, we have
identified the following outfielders as possible targets for the Mets:

Atlanta – Reed Johnson

Arizona
– A.J. Pollock

Baltimore – Nolan Reimold

Boston
– Jerry Sands

Chicago
Cubs – Brett Jackson

Chicago White Sox - Dayan Viciedo

Cincinnati – Chris Heisey

Cleveland – Thomas Neal -

Colorado – Dexter Fowler

Detroit – none

Kansas City – none

Los Angeles Angels – Mark Trumbo

Los Angeles Dodgers – Alex Castellanos

Miami Marlins – Gorkys Hernandez

Milwaukee Brewers – Khris Davis

Minnesota Twins – None

Oakland Athletics – Grant Green

New York Yankees - None

Pittsburgh – Jose Tabata

We now move on to the
Philadelphia Phillies, who currently have seven (7) outfielders on their 40-man

Domonic Brown – lefty – ARB-1 in 2015 – MLB: 187-AB, .235

Zach Collier – lefty – pre-ARB -

Tyson Gillies – lefty – pre-ARB -

Ender Inciarte – lefty –

John
Mayberry – righty – ARB-1 in 2014 - MLB – 441-AB, 14-HR, 46-RBI

Laynce Nix – lefty – $1,35mil in
2013 – FA-2014 – MLB: 114-AB, .246

Ben
Revere – lefty - ARB-1 in 2014 –

A fair amount of
people that played in the Philadelphia outfield last season are now gone. We can talk about this team all day but they
still will only have one righty in the outfield. In addition, the system is
pretty lean and Brown has basically been a dud.

Newly signed Revere
and Mayberry will get most of the at-bats. One of the weakest Phillies outfield
in years, maybe decades.